Tuesday, October 13, 2009

RTT - It's raining. Oh. Joy.

It's Tuesday. It's raining. It must be Belgium.

But seriously, you know what to do. Drop by the Unmom and see for yourself. She explains it so much better than I.



So, yes, it's raining. After a dry, hot summer it looks like we're in for a wet, cool fall.  I can't complain too much except that it means my carpet stays slightly damp from the tracks of wet dogs x3. The current plan to get rid of the stained, stinky carpet is to just rip it up over Christmas break and live with the concrete sub flooring until such time as we can scrap up enough dough to cover it with something else. I'm currently leaning towards concrete overlay. Easier to clean, far less likely to get stained and stinky and as an added bonus will provide endless amusement in the form of one neurotic dog who thinks tile is the devil.

Eldest and her roommate were home over the weekend. While I'm always glad to see them they always end up costing me money and screwing with my diet.

Speaking of which, the Wii Fit board has one last chance at life and then I'm chucking it. I've bought a rechargeable battery pack that stays plugged in on it's 12 foot cord at all times and I've re-synced it more times that I can remember including a master reset last night that wiped all syncing memory from the Wii, forcing us to sync all remotes and the board. No joy. About halfway through boxing last night it lost connection. We're going to try a shim under the battery pack under the assumption that it's loose and losing connection which causes the board to loose connection with the Wii. If that doesn't work, it's done for. Anyone who knows a solution to this problem will be generously rewarded. Not sure with what, but I'll think of something.

Thanks to all of you who commented about Youngest's bout with the hospital. I have to ask, what does it say that one of her first questions when the doctor told her in the emergency room that she could go upstairs for observation or go home and follow up with our doctor that after she said she preferred to stay she asked me if that was okay and could we afford it.  I paid our $100 emergency room visit co-pay and was visited bright and early the next morning with someone from accounting to hit me up for $700+ more for the estimated costs. So while the true answer is not really we're okay since they accepted a payment plan.  Now we just have to see how close they were in their estimate. And what the doctor's charge. Which is separate, of course. I can't imagine what the cost would have been if she'd actually had appendicitis and needed surgery. 10% adds up pretty damn quickly.

Speaking of that emergency room doctor, he asked her five times if she was absolutely sure she wasn't sexually active. 5 times. Since he didn't think it was appendicitis he was partially convinced that it was some kind of pelvic inflammatory issue and that was only possible if she was sexually active. I'm still not convinced that he ever really believed her protestations to the negative. If she'd felt better I have no doubt that she would have put him in his place. She has a sharp tongue and isn't shy about using it. I have no idea where she gets it.

So, that's about it for this session. Can't think of anything else to say. Go visit the Unmom for more Random Tuesday Thoughts. You'll be glad you did.






4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is awful, isn't it, when your kid has to ask if it's okay to stay in the hospital. This is why we need healthcare reform. The doctor may have seemed unfeeling in asking five times about being sexually active, but speaking as a former dental hygienist I can offer that the info. he has to determine a diagnosis with is only as good as what the patient is willing to give him. I used to have patients who wouldn't tell me any of their symptoms--they thought if I was any good I would just "know" what the problem was. I'm sure he's seen young girls who were too embarrassed to admit they were sexually active in front of their mothers. Glad she's home and doing better!

Margaret aka: Fact Woman said...

I'm glad she's feeling better. My daughter was at the ER last week too and they asked her if she was sexually active, when she said no, they asked me to step out of the room so she could answer their questions more honestly. No one believes that there are good kids out there.

Anonymous said...

NEGOTIATE with the hospital, not just on a payment plan, but on the amount of the bill. Their fees aren't written in stone. If they'll negotiate with insurance companies, they ought to do the same with you.

Good luck. May the force be with you.

Wild Child said...

More reasons for health care reform. I pray it is something that works. In the meantime, try this for generating more random thoughts. I really enjoy reading your blog.